Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong Aches and Pains

I been practicing level 1 for about 2 months now and just this past week have experienced some very odd and uncomfortable pains - in both shoulders, enough so that I have suspended some of the active excerises because I am in pain and I felt that it might have been the exersise that brought them on. At firt is was just the left shoulder; the pain would sort of move around from the scapula area and then to the outside and back or both. Then a day later a similar pain took up residence in my right shoulder - both side at once. Sometimes it feels like the joint and at other times it feels like a tendon/ligament or muscle. Moving my arms above my head or reaching is painful. Very strange! Does anyone out there have a clue what this might be and what to do about it.At the age of 55 one might expect some arthritis in those joints, but all of a sudden?

Hi Falcon-
Hey, you and the Dalai Lama! His stomach and your shoulders. You are in good company. I would be extremely surprized if he decides to stop meditating.
#1 - the exercises don't cause something like this. I think it was already there. I had a few random thoughts.. Arthritis does come in cycles, out of nowhere, can be very painful, then disappear. It does effect the muscles and tendons in the same area. Now, lets go back to thinking of it as a nameless blockage. In my opinion, you should really try to focus on relaxing and opening up. Really get into the moving of yin and yang, bringing focused energy to areas you speak of. You have a strong name you have chosen to use in this forum. Use some of that strength as focused intention, in conjunction with an increased level of relaxation and opening up.
Same for the breathing of the universe. Those two exercises shouldn't challenge the lifting of your arms, as your elbows are dropped. I sometimes experience this type of blockage. I work through it. I don't limit myself, I turn up the qigong work, and get back in balance. For me, it is sometimes triggered by coffee, and/or work related physical stress. If I do either, to a greater degree than my qigong work, I start to feel blockages. I might add here, that I was told that there is a school for qigong healers in China, where the requirement for entry, is being a self healed survivor of cancer. This is referring to a level of achievement in self concentration. By all means, if you feel you may have something that you would feel should be looked at by a physician, check it out...but, don't stop your qigong work. It "is" a healing path. Don't let the limitations you feel, shut you down. Relax, open up, and really focus on the blockage you are experiencing. I find that similar blockages in myself, respond very well to this, I come out whole , on the other side of a cycle where my work, or a few less desirable habits, effect my health. This is relative to my age, too. As I get older, I have to live a better lifestyle to stay healthy. I have also found that qigong gets to deeper and deeper levels of healing. I find new things to work on, that I wasn't aware of before. Sometimes these things rise to the surface and get in your face. It is a often an opportunity to move to the next level.

Hi falcon
In over 5 months of daily pracice I've had no incidence of pain resulting from practice. I found, however, that after about a month of practice that if I had pain resulting from some other physical activity that I engage in e.g., a kink that producing nagging pain between my shoulder blade or hip pain, that the qigong practice actually removes the pain. Before starting the active exercise, I found it effective to ask the master to help remove pain during the practice. Then I just start the active exercise without focusing on the painful area. Usually by the time I get to the harmony of the universe the pain is gone. Sometimes my hip pain in particular goes completely away while doing the harvesting of qi, when bending over cupping the kidney area and lower back.
So for me qigong practice has been very effective in managing pain and has not resulted in bringing about pain.